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Stanislaus County, California
Stanislaus County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, between Stockton and Fresno. As the price of housing increases in the San Francisco Bay Area, many commuters have moved to Stanislaus County. As of 2000 the population was 446,997. The county seat is Modesto. History Stanislaus County was formed from part of Tuolumne County in 1854. The county is named for the Stanislaus River, first discovered by Gabriel Moraga in 1806, and later renamed Rio Estanislao in honor of Estanislao, a mission-educated renegade Native American chief who led a band of Indians in a series of battles against Mexican troops until finally being defeated by General Mariano Vallejo in 1826. Estanislao was his baptismal name, the Spanish rendition of Stanislaus, itself the Latin rendition of the name of an 11th century Catholic Saint Stanislav. The final "S" in "Stanislaus" is pronounced, not silent. This depends on who you ask, and how long they have lived here. Old-timers tend to leave off the final "s", while newcomers pronounce it. Geography and Environment According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,923 km² (1,515 sq mi). 3,869 km² (1,494 sq mi) of it is land and 54 km² (21 sq mi) of it (1.38%) is water. There are a number or rare and endangered species that are found in Stanislaus County. The Beaked Clarkia, (Clarkia rostrata), is listed as a candidate for the Federal Endangered Species List. It has only been found in blue oak-digger pine associations in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, a habitat which occurs at moderately high elevations. Colusa Grass, (Neostapfsia colusana) is listed as endangered by the State. It is restricted to vernal pools. (Torrey, 1989) Cities and towns *Ceres *Crows Landing *Del Rio *Denair *East Oakdale *Empire *Grayson *Hickman *Hughson *Keyes *Knights Ferry *Modesto *Newman *Oakdale *Patterson *Riverbank *Riverdale Park *Salida *Shackelford *Turlock *Waterford *West Modesto *Westley Adjacent Counties * Santa Clara County - southwest * San Joaquin County - northwest * Calaveras County - north * Tuolumne County - northeast * Merced County - south Note:There is a four way county border between Alameda, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, and Stanislaus Counties. Transportation Infrastructure Major Highways * Interstate 5 * California State Route 4 * California State Route 33 * California State Route 99 * California State Route 108 * California State Route 120 * California State Route 132 Public Transportation *Stanislaus Regional Transit (StaRT) provides fixed route and dial-a-ride service throughout the county. StaRT also connects with Merced County Transit in Gustine and Turlock. *Modesto Area Express (MAX) operates within Modesto, with limited service to Salida, Empire and Ceres. MAX also runs special commuter routes connecting with the BART and Altamont Commuter Express rail systems. *The cities of Ceres, Oakdale, Riverbank and Turlock run small local bus systems. *Both Greyhound and Amtrak have stops in Modesto and Turlock. Airports Modesto City-County Airport has a number of scheduled passenger flights. Other (general aviation) airports around the county include Oakdale Airport, Patterson Airport, and Turlock Airpark. Demographics As of the census² of 2000, there were 446,997 people, 145,146 households, and 109,585 families residing in the county. The population density was 116/km² (299/sq mi). There were 150,807 housing units at an average density of 39/km² (101/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 69.33% White, 2.58% Black or African American, 1.27% Native American, 4.22% Asian, 0.34% Pacific Islander, 16.82% from other races, and 5.44% from two or more races. 31.74% of the population were Hispanic or Latino. 67.8% spoke English, 23.7% Spanish, 1.5% Syriac and 1.3% Portuguese as their first language. There were 145,146 households out of which 41.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.5% were non-families. 19.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.47. In the county the population was spread out with 31.1% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 96.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males. The median income for a household in the county was $40,101, and the median income for a family was $44,703. Males had a median income of $36,969 versus $26,595 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,913. About 12.3% of families and 16.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.5% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over. Politics Stanislaus is a Republican-leaning county in Presidential and congressional elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Jimmy Carter in 1976. Stanislaus is part of California's 18th and 19th congressional districts, which are held respectively by Democrat Dennis Cardoza and Republican George Radanovich. In the State Assembly Stanislaus is in the 17th, 25th, and 26th districts, which are held by Democrat Cathleen Galgiani and Republicans Tom Berryhill and Greg Aghazarian respectively. In the State Senate, Stanislaus is part of the 12th and 14th Senate districts, which are held by Republicans Jeff Denham and Dave Cogdill, respectively. Economy Agriculture is Stanislaus County's number two industry. Bibliography *John Torrey, Paul Awosika et al., Expanded initial study, Boulder Creek subdivision, Stanislaus County, Earth Metrics, Report 7999: California State Clearinghouse, Sacramento, November, 1989. See also *List of school districts in Stanislaus County External links *Stanislaus County Fair *California State University Stanislaus *Modesto Junior College *Stanislaus County official website *Stanislaus PRIDE Center *Stanislaus County Farm Bureau *Stanislaus County Law Library Category:Counties of California Category:Stanislaus County, California